Customer Reviews

A People's History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play (New Press People's History)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a sports fan and someone who cares about the politics of social change. This book brought these worlds together in a way that has me rethinking how I understand both the history of sports and the history of the United States. Each story told might be worth its own book but I will take with me the stories of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the African American baseball player in the 19th century who saw his career die with the end of reconstruction, and the way the famed US women's soccer team threatened to strike in 1996 - on the advice of Billie Jean King - for equal pay. This is a must read - an antidote to the narrow politics of election season.

Games are never just games. Even when children play, they are mastering the skills and cultural messages they will need to become successful adults. Yet in America, we cling to a cultural myth that sports are apolitical. We have the news channel CNN and the sports channel ESPN, and they are supposed to be entirely separate and distinct.

In this enlightening book, sportswriter Dave Zirin debunks this myth, exposing the politics, business interests, and cultural forces that have shaped modern sports. Zirin traces the history of sports from the lacrosse-playing days of the Choctaw Indians all the way to the modern steroid scandals and the behind-the-scenes politics of the international Olympic Games. Throughout, he focuses on how race-related conflicts have helped to shape modern athletics.

The host of a popular blog called "The Edge of Sports" (edgeofsports.com) and a regular contributor to the L.A. Times and the Nation magazine, Zirin has an engaging style that will appeal to sports fans, history buffs, and anyone else who wants their eyes opened. The favorable reviews and high sales certainly suggest that this book will help reduce the myth of sports as apolitical. (See the publisher's website, newpress.com, for links to recent publicity, which includes a favorable plug in Time Magazine.) Author Jeff Chang promises that after reading this book "you'll never see sports the same way again"; author Jim Bouton (Ball Four) goes even further by predicting that this is "the opening shot in the battle to reclaim sports."

Not only is the book enlightening, it is also a fun read full of engaging stories that you can share with friends and family while you are waiting for the game to begin. And if by game time you haven't yet convinced them that politics is embedded in sports, Zirin recommends an exercise that will unmask the "coercive patriotism" surrounding them: Have them try staying seated while the national anthem is being played, and they are being told to stand to support the troops in Iraq.

Sports fans will find tales of the true origins of the modern games we hold so dear, and history buffs will discover the connection - sometimes wonderful, sometimes nefarious, sometimes BOTH - between politics and sports. For those who love sports, AND for those who don't, this book will be an eye-opener. A brisk, page-turning book... and FUN to read!

Dave Zirin's offering in the "People's History" series (sparked by Howard Zinn's landmark "A People's History of the United States") provides a quick skim through the American sports scene as it intersects with politics. This is a clever, often thought-provoking book that reminds the reader that American sport has had a long, often ugly, growing process as it has evolved into its current form (that Zirin would likely summarize as The Age of Greed).

First, the good stuff. This is a fast-paced, well-researched book that hits on many of the highlights of the bygone American sports scene. Perhaps the best portions of the book focus on the now-faded sport of boxing. If you've ever heard the (terrible) joke about how the lower on the socio-economic ladder you go, the better the boxer you are, you will appreciate learning about the national political importance of figures such as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali. We also see the painful evolution of the athlete as a political figure as Jackie Robinson struggles to be the stoic exemplar of patience when he wanted nothing more than to break noses or when Jesse Owens returns from the Berlin Olympics to an America that refused to give him a decent job, just because of his skin. If you need a reminder of how ugly American racism has been, the sections on the difficult integration of college sports teams bring it to you in full, vibrant nastiness.

Zirin does not limit his book to racial injustice - the book also provides a helpful reminder of the struggle women had to fight just to be able to play on the same field. Women's tennis plays a huge role, as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova play tremendous roles in changing American attitudes.

Zirin goes a bit off the rails toward the end of the book, particularly with his treatment of tennis titans Venus and Serena Williams as well as their dad, the blowhard Richard Williams. I am sure that Venus and Serena have faced racial obstacles in their life, but Zirin lets this family get off far too easily. Zirin writes that Richard Williams is the unfair victim of racism but does not support the claim by showing any real racism (receiving a report that the British Royal family was miffed at Richard's boorish behavior at Wimbledon does not raise much sympathy), and Zirin practically bends over backward excusing the fact that Mr. Williams "probably" stepped over the line by asserting that the alleged racism of tennis officials at a tournament was "the worst act of prejudice" since Martin Luther King's assassination. In a book about racism and sports, I would expect to see at least an acknowledgement of the damage that can be done to the civil rights movement by frivolous claims of racism by pampered, spoiled mega-millionaire athletes. Zirin also writes - without any support whatsoever - that Venus and Serena Williams are "well-adjusted adults, not ruined tennis prodigies like so many of their peers." As someone who saw Serena Williams first physically threaten a line judge and then issue lie after bald-faced lie about it, I assert there is powerful evidence to contradict Zirin's glowing endorsement of her character.

But that's a minor quibble, and more than erased by Zirin's powerful indictment of Michael Jordan's infamous refusal to take political stands of any import. Full disclosure - I am a Tar Heel and was in college when Michael Jordan refused to endorse Harvey Gantt in his campaign against Jesse Helms, and you've never seen such a perplexed bunch of college students as the Gantt-supporting Jordan worshippers in Chapel Hill. This is a good book that will inspire the reader to learn more about the stories - such as Roberto Clemente and Curt Flood - that Zirin touches on so briefly.

excellent book for people who care about the dirty, hidden side of sports. writing is excellent. zirin is a pioneer and we need to hear his voice over the maddening sports crowd. hopefully he'll continue to produce reams of additional spectacular material.

Zirin reports on how sport is more than just about winning a game. There's more at stake than bragging rights and fat paychecks. Like it or not, sport has effected our views about race, gender, sexuality, economics and government. There are no ifs, ands or buts when it comes to rules of game, "but when the playing field is shown to be unlevel, it stings. This sporting reality can wake people up and reveal the hidden inequities in our society that otherwise go unnoticed."

Before reading this book I had a fuzzy opinion about whether or not athletes should raise their voices on political issues. I can now strongly say that indeed they should. If not for the words and actions provoked by athletes of our nation's past, then the many inequalities suffered both on and off the field would have continued to endure today.

In case anyone was wondering if the power and promise wunderkind Dave Zirin's initial offerings were a fluke -- this incredible book show's that Dave is here to stay!!! A People's History of Sport's is the product of a relentless and brilliant mind determined to the human side of the 'sports industrial complex.' As Dave tells this story, the narrative trancends the limits of a sports book -- it becomes a testiment to the power of the human spririt to rise above the barriers of oppression and exploitation. Bravo Dave! I plan to by copies for everyone on my holiday gift list!

David Zirin's masterfully researched and well-written "A People's History of Sports in the United States" is essential reading for anyone interested in sports and its relationship to society. My only gripe with the book is that I wish it were 150 pages longer, with more in-depth analysis of the events described. Nonetheless, this is a compelling read. From the Revolutionary War to the events at Jena, Louisiana (the lynching jokes and fights that got African American students in trouble), "A People's History" reveals that sports in this country isn't simply a red, white, and blue, non-political game, but a landscape where revolutionaries have thrived, both in competition and in their attempts at social change. A must read.

If you liked Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, you will love this book too. And you don't need to know too much about the sports world, either!
Definitely recommend to those of us who are liberal/left-leaning.

I was introduced to Dave Zirin's writing by my former Journalism professory a couple of years ago. One day I received "Welcome to the Terrordome" in the mail and was immediately hooked. While he hits you with alot of information, the books isn't "academic" to the point where your eyes immediately start drooping (and I can post a list a mile long of those types of books). Zirin keeps the reader engaged and wanting more. If you're a sports fan -- or even someone interested in the political aspect of sports and how an athlete can help change society -- for the good, or bad -- definitely check out this book. You won't regret it.